The Eighth International Conference on the Chemistry and Biology of Mineralized Tissues is planned for October 17-22, 2004, to take place at the Banff Centre, Alberta, Canada. The health of bones, cartilage, and teeth is essential for the activities of normal daily life in locomotion, mastication, respiration, digestion and the like, but the factors and their complex interactions responsible for the formation and maintenance of these major skeletal and dental tissues lie largely unknown. Indeed, so, too, are the factors that contribute to the degeneration of these tissues during aging and disease and to their repair and regeneration on healing. The purpose of this Conference and the seven International Conferences that preceded it is to present the most recent results of important scientific investigations into these incomplete areas of our understanding, forecast future directions of subsequent research, and ultimately design improved methods for the diagnosis, treatment and cure of individuals with mineralized tissue-related diseases. Participants to the Eighth International Conference, anticipated to number between 200 and 250, will include biochemists, cell and molecular biologists, crystallographers, structural biologists, engineers, geneticists, dental and orthopaedic researchers, and invertebrate and plant biologists with a common interest in mineralized tissues. The Conference should attract researchers in the areas of biomimetics, biomaterials, tissue engineering, and paleontology; geneticists with interests in inherited diseases affecting mineralized tissues; and clinicians interested in diseases associated with mineralized tissues, such as osteoporosis, osteogenesis and dentinogenesis imperfecta, and periodontal disease. The meeting is organized with state-of-the-art presentations in these and other fields and will have ample time provided for discussions, breakout groups, workshops, and meals. The International Conferences have a history of convening individuals having strong scientific backgrounds and this conference, as its predecessors, will pay strict consideration and regard for gender balance, minorities, and persons with disabilities to be included in its final program. The Eighth International Conference will make every effort to bring women and under-represented minorities into the meeting as speakers and participants. The major impact of the previous International Conferences has been measured by the increasing frequency with which its Proceedings have been cited in subsequent publications, by the increasing number of original papers submitted for publication based on data and results presented at the conferences, by the increasing number of new and established investigators wishing to attend the meetings, and by the increasing number of new collaborations that are formed as a result of participation and interaction. [unreadable] [unreadable]